Despite their rhetoric about peace and protecting Taiwan’s democracy, KMT and TPP heavyweights continue to undermine Taiwan’s defense capabilities.
Just last week, the KMT and TPP passed a defense budget of NT$780 billion (US$26.5 billion), over half of the government’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion package. Despite warnings from the US State Department and Republican and Democratic lawmakers that cuts to the original budget would benefit China, the KMT-led legislature passed a significantly watered-down version that removed critical support for Taiwan’s domestic drone production and joint technical cooperation with the US.
The cuts echo Beijing’s twisted narrative that strengthening one’s defense is somehow a threat to regional security. By stripping support for drones and other cost-effective defensive assets that Taiwan can produce domestically, the KMT and TPP have weakened Taiwan’s long-term deterrence capabilities to please communist leaders in Beijing.
This leaves Taiwan more vulnerable should Xi Jinping ever choose to pull the trigger, and boosts CCP propaganda that Taiwan cannot defend itself against a Chinese invasion.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday that the KMT-led defense budget cuts eliminated commercial purchases and contract manufacturing that are key to domestic weapons development. This will create gaps in Taiwan’s overall defense capabilities, undermine local drone production, and reduce opportunities to connect Taiwanese weapons manufacturers with overseas security suppliers.
Cho said the cuts will damage national defense in four key areas.
First, Taiwan’s ability to analyze real-time intelligence will be significantly affected. The KMT-led cuts removed capabilities critical to joint operations and combat-zone awareness, delaying the military’s digital transformation and weakening command and control.
Such technology is increasingly crucial as Taiwan works to strengthen deterrence through security cooperation with like-minded partners that also face threats from China.
Second, Taiwan’s ground defense and strike capabilities will be weakened. Items such as coastal surveillance drones and key technologies that would improve the identification of invading forces and reduce troop response times were removed.
The KMT-led cuts also eliminated coastal attack drones and other systems critical to Taiwan’s response to Chinese missiles, one of the largest threats posed by the People’s Liberation Army. The Pentagon estimates that China has nearly 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles capable of reaching Taiwan.
Cho said that without such systems, Taiwan’s anti-missile interception range would be severely reduced, leaving ground forces exposed to mass casualties in the event of drone or missile attacks from China.
Finally, and currently the subject of heated debate in Taiwan, the cuts removed equipment systems jointly developed and procured by Taiwan and the US. The KMT-led budget removed items related to new construction and the expansion of military production lines.
This directly damages Taiwan-US military cooperation. It will delay international support and coordination in a Taiwan contingency.
Eliminating such items will also weaken Taiwan’s self-defense resolve and play into Beijing’s narrative that Taiwan is isolated from international security support and left to face China alone.
The cuts will take a direct toll on Taiwan’s defense resilience by reducing its ability to replenish ammunition stockpiles and sustain longer-term combat readiness. US political leaders across party lines have questioned Taiwan’s determination to defend itself for nearly a decade.
These cuts directly undermine Taiwan’s ability to demonstrate to the world that it takes its own defense seriously.
Despite poll after poll showing that more than half of Taiwanese support increased defense spending and military cooperation with the US, the KMT and its smaller partner, the TPP, continue doing China’s bidding by undermining Taiwan’s defense capabilities and obstructing closer cooperation with Taiwan’s most critical security guarantor.
The irony is that the military spending cuts pushed through the legislature directly hurt KMT-governed cities, even as KMT and TPP leaders maintain deep personal and family ties to the US.
More than 200 of Taiwan’s 267 drone-related manufacturers are located in KMT-governed cities, with the largest concentration in New Taipei City, where 52 producers focus on drone research and development. Taipei is home to 43 manufacturers, with many more located in Taichung, Taiwan’s second-largest city by population.
The ruling party also said at a press conference yesterday that the KMT is putting Taiwanese in harm’s way by cutting drone projects designed to reduce casualties in the event of an attack.
The DPP also pointed to KMT hypocrisy, saying the party claims to oppose “giveaways” to foreign countries and cynically mocks US arms sales, while its spokesperson belittled American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene and the party slashed budgets crucial to domestic defense industries.
It is also worth noting how senior KMT and TPP officials hedge their bets in the US while publicly attacking American support for Taiwan and spreading long-running Chinese narratives about US decline.
The children of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), and TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) are either US citizens or green card holders. KMT lawmakers Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) and Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), known for loud calls to cut the defense budget, also have children who are US citizens. Ko’s husband is an American citizen.
KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), who came to prominence for her pro-China remarks, has publicly called for the eventual unification of Taiwan and China while attacking the idea of a Taiwanese national identity. Her children both live in the US.
To counter the KMT and TPP’s efforts to weaken Taiwan’s defense, Cho and the Cabinet are expected to propose another special act or supplementary budget to make up for the KMT-led cuts.
It remains to be seen what pressure can be applied to Taiwan’s domestic Trojan horses in the KMT and TPP as they continue doing China’s bidding by weakening Taiwan’s national defense.
What is certain is that the latest round of KMT-led defense budget cuts goes against the will of most Taiwanese, as shown in survey after survey, and is far from the “milestone compromise” some foreign media have portrayed it as.
Rath Wang is a political commentator based in Taipei focusing on Taiwan’s politics, media, civil society, and key issues influencing Taiwan’s future. He is a media producer and host of current affairs talk shows and podcasts and has worked on political campaigns and lived in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and the US.
